Why did Saudi Arabia just spend billions on a video games company?

为何沙特阿拉伯刚刚斥资数十亿购买一家游戏公司?

Today in Focus

2026-08-11

27 分钟
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Last week Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund and a group of investors spent $55bn (£41bn) on Electronic Arts, the video games company behind the Sims, Madden NFL and Battlefield. Keith Stuart and George Osborn tell Annie Kelly why this soft-power move is worrying many in the industry. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus
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  • This is The Guardian.

  • Today, Saudi Arabia splurges billions on a video games company.

  • Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is known for many things.

  • The war in Yemen, allegedly ordering the murder of a journalist, the mass arrests of his own citizens.

  • But there's something else you might not know about him.

  • Apparently, he really loves video games.

  • Rumour has it that his favourite games are League of Legends, Age of Empires.

  • Which is where you literally build empires.

  • Of course.

  • I don't think we should downplay the fact that he is a gamer.

  • And I think that is important because not only is it making passionate,

  • but it also made him knowledgeable about the sector.

  • And this might help explain a multi-billion dollar deal announced this month,

  • which will see Saudi Arabia become a major investor in one of the world's biggest games companies.

  • Electronic Arts or EA.

  • The deal finally got done.

  • The EA sport business has officially gone private.

  • It's been bought out by those investors, including Saudi Arabia's public investment fund.

  • We'll have a look at what that means.

  • So what's really behind this deal?